Notorious heroin market along Philadelphia tracks to be cleaned up

Philadelphia's West Kensington and Fairhill neighborhoods are a major origin for the addicted community in Delaware to get heroin. Dealers and users make the short trip up and down I-95 keeping a healthy supply in the state.
Jennifer Corbett/The News Journal

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A man is passed out next to another man after they both injected themselves with heroin along the Conrail line in Philadelphia's West Kensington neighborhood, also known as the "Badlands."(Photo: JENNIFER CORBETT/THE NEWS JOURNAL, The News Journal)Buy Photo

PHILADELPHIA - The cleanup of an open-air heroin market that has thrived for decades along a set of train tracks miles outside the heart of Philadelphia began Monday with officials cautioning that the effort will be long and difficult as heavy machinery rolled onto the site.

The problems are many, they said of dismantling a market that has helped supply the region with drugs during a national opioid epidemic.

Thick patches of brush provide cover for drug sales and usage in the sunken-in gorge. The hundreds of used syringes mixed in with layers of discarded tires, mattresses and other debris require the expertise of a specialized contractor because of the danger they pose to regular maintenance crews, officials said.

A 25-year-old-woman uses a mirror to shoot heroin in her neck along the Conrail line Philadelphia's West Kensington neighborhood, also know as the "Badlands." JENNIFER CORBETT/THE NEWS JOURNAL, The News Journal

A 25-year-old woman uses a mirror to shoot heroin in her neck along a Conrail line in Philadelphia in an area known as “The Badlands.” Most of the heroin in Delaware comes from the West Kensington and Fairhill neighborhoods of Philadelphia. JENNIFER CORBETT/THE NEWS JOURNAL

A 25-year-old woman uses a mirror to shoot heroin in her neck along the Conrail line in the Fairhill area of Philadelphia, also know as the "Badlands." JENNIFER CORBETT/THE NEWS JOURNAL, The News Journal

Endless used syringes, packing and empty heroin bags carpet the embankment along the Conrail train tracks in the "Badlands," also known as Philadelphia's West Kensington neighborhood. Heroin users congregate here to shoot the drug openly. JENNIFER CORBETT/THE NEWS JOURNAL, The News Journal

A man is passed out next to another man after they both injected themselves with heroin along the Conrail line in Philadelphia's West Kensington neighborhood, also known as the "Badlands." JENNIFER CORBETT/THE NEWS JOURNAL, The News Journal

With festering wounds in his feet from shooting heroin, a man barely walks away from a nearby shack where a man known as "The Doc" shot him up for fee under a pedestrian and car overpasses in Philadelphia's Fairhill neighborhood. JENNIFER CORBETT/THE NEWS JOURNAL, The News Journal

A used syringe lays on a table known as the lounge where users shoot heroin openly under along the Conrail train tracks in the "Badlands" of West Kensington. JENNIFER CORBETT/THE NEWS JOURNAL, The News Journal

People who use heroin along the half-mile stretch of railroad notoriously known as El Campamento can easily find somewhere else to do drugs among the many abandoned or demolished homes that dot the neighborhood.

As city and Conrail representatives gathered in a grassy lot across the street from the tracks to announce the start of the cleanup effort, a woman who lives next door said neighborhood residents usually are forced to scour the lot for used needles before children play there.

“This is going to be a long journey, and today is really the beginning of many, many, many months of transformation,” city Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez said.

A half-hour before her remarks, a man squatting around the corner near a hole in the fence that’s supposed to block entry to the gorge was seen rummaging through his backpack, holding little baggies and pulling out a syringe. A half-hour later, a woman sat in the same spot, holding a needle in her hand.

Officials estimate the bulk of the cleaning will take 30 days but acknowledged the timetable could change. City representatives said they’ll set up trailers that will offer food, health screenings and information about housing options to the dozens of homeless people who settle along the train tracks from time to time.

Blanca Maldonado, 75, said she has lived near the tracks for the last four decades and has encountered trouble numerous times with people who visit El Campamento.

Once, she said, her cellphone was stolen from her porch as she cleaned her front yard. A few years ago, a man entered her home and tried to rob her, she said.

“When things got really bad, I applied for a permit to carry a gun,” she said.